To address the truck driver shortage, Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative is adding a new self-driving truck to haul sugarbeets from the piling station to the factory. Vice President of Agriculture Mike Metzger says this will be a leader-follower type system. “There is a manned leader truck in control of a truck and the autonomous follower. We’ll have two trucks retrofitted for it, one leader and one follower on the road. If it goes as well as we hope, we’ll look to expand it next year.” Metzger says Minn-Dak Famers Cooperative is the first sugarbeet co-op in the Red River Valley to use this technology. “The technology has been out for awhile, used successfully by the Department of Transportation in North Dakota and Minnesota. Most people probably haven’t noticed, but if you see that impact vehicle driving slowly behind the unit ahead painting, that’s the autonomous truck. We’re just taking this one step further, going a little faster and using it for an agricultural purpose.” The truck is expected to arrive in August.
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